Hose supporting device



Oct. 26, 1954 T. A. CONLEY 2,692,712

HOSE SUPPORTING DEVICE Filed'Feb. 8, 1950 mvnu'rog I THOMAS A. CONLEYA'rroiz EY Patented Oct. 26, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AmericanOptical Company,

Southbridge,

Mass., a voluntary association of Massachusetts Application February 8,1950, Serial No. 143,087

1 Claim. 1 This invention relates to supporting devices and hasparticular reference to devices adapted for use in securing objects suchas hoses to supporting means therefor.

In the manufacture of air supply devices of the kind embodying a centralplant having a plurality of hoses leading therefrom to respectiverespirators or similar masks to be worn by a corresponding number ofusers, it is generally necessary to provide each hose with a valveadjacent each mask or respirator so that the wearer can independentlycontrol the flow of air from the central plant into his mask. However,it has been found that such valve mechanisms are generally ofsubstantial weight which, when combined with the Weight of the hose andcouplings, will tend to render the mask or respirator uncomfortablyheavy when worn on the face of an individual or may even cause the maskto become disengaged from the face of the wearer, breaking the air seal.There is also the important disadvantage present in such arrangementsthat the added weight may cause a hose to become disconnected from avalve coupling or that the valve may be accidently operated, withpossible serious results with respect to the health of the user.

Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide adevice for supporting an air supply hose in attached relation to thebody of a user whereby the weight thereof will be absorbed by the devicewith resultant increase in life of the hose and efiiciency of operationand control of the air supply system.

Another object is to provide a supporting device of the above characterembodying a holster shaped to be carried on the waist belt of the userand comprising a portion shaped to resiliently encircle a hose adjacentthe valve to retain it in position near the body of the user and havingan opening therein through which the valve may extend, with said openingbeing'elongated to permit the hose and valve to be turned within theencircling portion to a position where the valve may be easily operated.

Another object is to provide a device of the above character in whichthe elongated opening in the resilient hose-encircling portion is solocated as to permit the valve to extend, when in a normal position,upwardly in a direction substantially parallel to the body of the userand adjacent thereto and which will permit the valve to be turneddownwardly within the limits of the elongated opening so as to extendoutwardly at an angle from the users body where it may be easilyoperated for control of the air supply passing to the users mask orrespirator.

Another object is to provide a device of th above character which issimple in its construction, effipient in its use, and relatively eco-'nomical to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of an embodiment of theinvention shown in position of use; and

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of the embodimentshown in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing wherein like characters of reference designatelike parts throughout the several views, a clip or holster ID embodyingthe invention is shown as applied to a waist belt II of a user, and iscomprised initially of a fiat, elongated strip of metal of a resilientnature such as spring steel or the like. The strip of metal is formedwith a bend as at I2 so as to provide a rear, downwardly extendingportion [3 adapted to be positioned adjacent the rear surface of thebelt H and a frontal portion [4 extending downwardly parallel to therear portion [3 for engaging the front surface of the belt II, whichportions I3 and M are continually urged toward each other by theinherent resiliency of the material and may be spread apart to receivetherebetween the belt ll of the user. The lower end of the front portionI4 is provided with an outwardly protruding curved portion [5 which isadapted to encircle a valve coupling I6. The coupling l6 has attached toone side thereof one end of a flexible hose ll leading to the mask orrespirator (not shown) of the user and has attached to its opposed sidea hose Ila leading to a conventional air supply plant.

Since it is most desirable to support the hose line at or adjacent thepoint of greatest weight, the encircling portion 15 is adapted toresiliently encircle the coupling l6 and is provided with an elongated,vertically extending slot I8 through which the valve control mechanismI9 is adapted to extend. The valve control mechanism I9 is formed with ashaft 20 which is adapted to extend into the coupling I6 through a bossor extension 2l formed on the coupling to control conventional valvemechanism 2la within the coupling, the boss 2| being of a diametersubstantially equal to the width of the slot l8 to prevent the couplingfrom pulling out of the holster.

The conventional packing nut 22 and operating knob 23 are assembledsubsequent to the attachment of the holster to the coupling, the knob 23being attached by suitable means such as a screw 3 or the like to theshaft 20 to control the operation of the valve mechanism 2 la within thecoupling.

As shown in the drawing, the valve control mechanism [9 can be normallycarried in an upright position adjacent the frontal portion 14 of theholster Ill and substantially parallel to the body of the wearer whereit will be less apt to become accidently operated as it might if it waslocated so as to extend outwardly. However, since it is much easier tooperate the control mechanism I9 if it is angled outwardly with respectto the frontal portion 14 of the clip, the elongated slot [8 has beenprovided so that the valve control mechanism xi -9 may be grasped by theuser and turned within the encircling portion l of the clip II} to aposition as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 2 where it may be moreeasily operated. It is to be understood that such movement of the valvedevice is confined to the extent of movement permitted the boss 2'! bythe .slot land is against the tension exerted by the inherent resiliencyof the material of the encircling portion l5. Subsequent to theoperation of the control mechanism [9, the valve device can be turned inthe opposite direction within the encircling portion I5 and thusreturned to the normal initial position.

Withsuch a construction it is quite evident that since the device issupported at the point of greatest weight, there will be less likelihoodof the hoses I1 and Ila becoming disconnected from the coupling 16 andthereby rendering the air supply system inefficient. Also, by reducingthe total or overall weight carried by the mask or respirator when inposition of use on the face of the user, this will result in increasedefficiency of the mask or respirator since such added weight will nottend to cause the mask or respirator to become disengaged from the faceof the wearer.

From the foregoing it will'be seen that simple, efiicient and economicalmeans have been provided for accomplishing all of the objects andadvantages of the invention by providing a clip or holster which isadapted 'to be positioned on the waist belt of a user and which isadapted to resiliently support a hose at or adjacent the valve controlmechanism, with means being provided for controlling movement of thevalve control mechanism into and out of a position where it maybe moreeasily operated.

While the novel features of the invention have been shown and describedand are pointed out F Number 4 in the annexed claim, it will beunderstood that many changes may be made in the details of constructionshown and described without departing from the spirit of the invention.I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the exact details shown anddescribed as the preferred only are set forth by way of illustration.

'1 claim:

A holster for use in supporting the valve of an air supply hose inattached relation to the body of a user wherein the valve includes acoupling and control mechanism protruding from one side thereof, saidholster being formed of a single strip of resilient material having oneend portion folded transversely of its longitudinal axis to form a pairof substantially parallel front and rear flat portions continually urgedtoward each other by the inherent resiliency of the material and adaptedto be spread apart to resiliently engage a portion of the wearers beltwhen inserted therebetween, and the other end portion of :said stripbeing curved forwardly (and outwardly of the front one of said parallelflat portions and thence downwardl atnd upwardly in the form of an arcconstituting the greater part of :a circle, substantially all of saidholster including said curved end portion being located forwardly of theplane of the rear one of said fiatportions so that the holster may fitcomfortably on the wearer when in position of use, and said curved endportion having a diameter less than. that of the valve coupling to beinserted therein so that the coupling will be resiliently heldinplacethereby, said curved end portion having an elongated slot on its forwardside extending in the direction of the length thereof permitting thecontrol mechanism of said valve to be extended therethrough, and saidslot being of a length to permitconvenient angling of said controlmechanism to diiferent positions when said valve is in assembledrelation with the holster.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NameDate Douglass May 7, 1912 Garrity Aug. 26, 1913 Jewell Dec. 14, 1915Morrison Feb. 25, 1919 Keely Aug. 14, 1923 Stieg1er Mar. 24, 1925

